Friday, October 10, 2014

It Can’t Happen Here, Right? Right?!

Naomi Wolf wrote in her book “The End of America” that there are ten things that need to happen in order to bring about a fascist state.  Let’s evaluate them, shall we?

  1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy – I’d say that the threat of domestic terrorism and foreign terrorism meets this requirement.  But there are other internal enemies as well such as Ron Paul voters and war veterans who were specifically targeted early on by the Obama administration as potential domestic terrorists.  As for foreign enemies, we keep on hearing about North Korea, Iran, Russia, and, to a lessor extent, China in addition to Islamic terror groups.  Never mind that the United States still has a military that could easily squash any other State power in the world.
  2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place – Check.  The CIA had secret prisons all over Europe where torture took place.  I’m also certain that Bradley Manning was taken to a secret prison and tortured with sleep depravation.  No wonder he wants to be a woman now.
  3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens – The police and most other law enforcement agencies are answerable only to the higher ups.  Moreover, they are becoming increasingly militarized.  It will not surprise me if in the next decade or so that armored police cars being used as patrol cars become commonplace.  On top of that, they can literally commit murder and pretty much get away with it.  Usually they claim the mantra of “officer safety” even as the unarmed elderly man is bleeding to death onto their shiny boots.
  4. Set up an internal surveillance system – While Edward Snowden blew the whistle on this, it has been going on since at least the mid-90s with the rise of the Internet.  Do you think that the NSA would have sat idly by and let such information go to waste?  The Echelon system was up and running for a long time before they were hacking Gmail accounts.
  5. Harass citizens’ groups – The recent IRS scandals have pretty much confirmed this.  Moreover, this kind of thing has been happening for a long time where the current administration uses an agency to suppress citizens’ groups.  Nixon was nearly impeached over this.  It’s just that people like Obama will do it more often and on a grander scale than their predecessors because the precedent has be established.  And lawyers often live by precedent.
  6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release – Indefinite detention, as authorized by the NDAA and signed by President Obama himself and given bipartisan support, is the very definition of this.  Before that, there are many instances of American citizens being forced into detention only to be released later a la the Japanese internment camps during World War II under FDR.
  7. Target key individuals – There are many people who have been targeted by the government.  Curt Weldon, who was in the process of exposing the gross incompetence with regards to the 9/11 attacks, was targeted by the FBI and lost his re-election bid as a result.  This is just one example.
  8. Control the press – The press is, by and large, not given access without the consent of the government.  As a result, they are not able to report the truth of anything in relation to government activities because to do so would result in loss of contact and loss of job.  Possibly loss of life.  Moreover, the mainstream press is full of Statist sycophants who would do anything to keep government big, fat, and greedy.
  9. Treat all political dissidents as traitors – Pretty much sums up the directive that was issued by then HHS Secretary Janet Napolitano when she stated that people with Gadsden flags and Ron Paul stickers were terrorists.
  10. Suspend the rule of law – The rule of law is basically non-existent, largely because there tens of thousands of laws in the Federal ledger alone.  If there is law against nearly every activity, then the law is applied subjectively by law enforcement, which means there is no rule of law, just a bunch of justifications for beating your face in when a LEO feels like it.

The truth is, fascism is already here.  Voting is nothing more than a formality; you are merely choosing between two factions of powerbrokers, not two ideological opponents.  The economic policy of the US is basically to allow private enterprise so long as it suits the government officials.  And the bureaucracy itself basically runs things while allowing politicians to put on a show.

It has happened here.  We are under the fascist rule of neo-Aristocrats.  And the sooner that the American people realize this instead of putting false hope in political parties or political movements, the sooner we can turn things around and bring about true freedom and liberty.

Two Factions

You’ll often hear arguments from people stating that voting in the United States doesn’t matter because both parties are two sides of the same coin.  You’ll also hear that voting does matter because both the Republicans and Democrats represent very different ideologies.

I think it is a little more complicated than that because I believe that both arguments are correct, despite their inherent contradictions.  This is because I’m looking at a bigger picture than most people when it comes to voting and political parties in general.

From where I see it, most people who vote for a Democrat or a Republican do so with the intention of supporting someone who they perceive as upholding a certain ideology.  In other words, most individuals who vote are voting for their beliefs and they believe that the person they vote has those beliefs.

The truth is, most politicians are very pragmatic and opportunistic at the same time.  While they may be morons in a lot of things, they are masters of making a deal.  By that I mean that they are really good at working out an agreement with another party and gaining an edge of their own.  If the US haggled more, they’d convince most grocers to sell their stuff for a penny or less.

Because they are people of underhanded dealings and not people of honor or integrity, they have little use for ideologues or concrete political beliefs in general.  They see political ideals, such as Socialism or conservatism, as a means to an end: ensuring a solid voter base.

The mainstream voters for these candidates are fairly gullible as well.  They will often project their own views and beliefs onto the candidates they intend to vote for.  This is why you have pro-life voters supporting Republicans, despite their long track record of doing nothing about abortion, while you have various minority groups supporting Democrats despite Democrats being largely old, white former-segregationists.  In either case, these groups are projecting their beliefs onto a person who really doesn’t give a damn about their politics.

But what do politicians really want?  What are their beliefs, if they generally hold the ones they publicly support in such contempt?  The answer is that they believe in themselves.

A politician is generally a narcissist, like many who like the spotlight.  I remember a press corp. standing outside a room when, sure enough, some important Congressman or Senator came strolling out to greet them.  He was practically glowing with divine energy as he began to address the press about the innocuous and utterly meaningless agreement he has just brokered.  The deal itself didn’t matter really.  It was all about the limelight.

Politicians in both parties are brokers of power, pure and simple.  They make deals to enrich themselves.  That’s why if you ever want to further a cause, you will need a lot of money to coerce a politician into supporting you.  Gone are the days of grassroots influencing politicians.

The truth is, when you vote, you are just deciding which faction will have the most influence.  Ideology is not a factor, but the top donors are.  They are two sides of the same coin but they are also different in that they get support from different corporations and institutions.

Except, of course, the largest ones that can afford to give money to both parties.  They are the true masters of the government.

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